U.K. to provide long

U.K. to provide long-range missile blueprints to Ukraine

New PM expected to announce release of SCALP missile plans, office says

European leaders joined President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Monday for official celebrations marking Ukraine's Independence Day as Russia pushes on with its invasion of the country.

U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, on his first overseas trip since taking office last month, on Monday joined almost a dozen other European leaders, as well as other dignitaries including European Council President Antonio Costa, in Kyiv.

"For Ukraine, independence is not an abstract idea. We defended it against all odds," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on social media. "In times like these, nations learn how important it is to have allies by your side." Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence in 1991, but one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's key goals in starting a war in February 2022 was to place Kyiv in Moscow's orbit.

Burnham co-chaired a meeting of the so-called Coalition of the Willing group of countries helping Ukraine resist Russia's onslaught, with the leaders of France and Germany expected to join online.

Burnham said he is pushing British industry to help a Ukrainian project that is working on a low-cost alternative to the U.S.-made Patriot air defence systems that Zelenskyy has said Ukraine desperately needs but are in short supply. Burnham urged other countries to encourage Washington to adopt stiffer sanctions on Russia and press Moscow to accept U.S. attempts to secure an unconditional ceasefire.

The visiting leaders took to Kyiv pledges of further military and financial support.

Burnham is expected to announce that the U.K. government has agreed to allow defence company MBDA to release classified information relating to British components used in the SCALP long-range missile, according to his office. That would pave the way for France and Ukraine to advance plans for local production of the weapon in Ukraine.

SCALP is the French version of the U.K.'s Storm Shadow missile, with both systems incorporating shared French and British technology.

"We all understand that in this Russian war against us — against Ukraine — far more is being decided than the future of Ukraine and Eastern Europe," Zelenskyy said, adding that foreign help was vital.

"No nation in a war like this could rely solely on its own weapons," he said. "No nation could withstand attacks of such intensity without the world's help."

The Kremlin said Britain's decision was regarded by Moscow extremely negatively.

"Britain is involved in this war on the side of the Kyiv regime. Britain methodically and regularly adds fuel to the fire and methodically and regularly hatches schemes to prevent even the slightest progress in the peaceful settlement process," spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Peskov said that the Russian military was already systematically gathering data to identify the location of any missile production sites and then destroying them.

Moscow warned London last week of unspecified "consequences" for supplying drones to Kyiv, accusing Britain of deepening its involvement in the war following a report ​that British-made drones had been used for long-range strikes against Russia ​for the first time.

Burnham said at the time that London was committed to support Ukraine fully against "this illegal war."

Ukraine has leaned heavily on NATO countries for help fighting Russia's bigger army, although relations with the United States have been cooler under Donald Trump than predecessor Joe Biden. Trump said at a NATO summit last month that the U.S. would give Ukraine a licence to produce Patriot missiles, but there has been no further announcement since. Even with a licence, officials and experts told The Associated Press that starting Patriot production in Ukraine would take years.

Russia, meanwhile, is getting help from North Korea and China while having made use of Iran's Shahed drones.

Both Russia and Ukraine are trying through long-range strikes to inflict economic pain, disrupt military supplies and erode public morale.

With no significant changes on the front line for months and no apparent progress after U.S.-led peace efforts, the warring countries are locked in a spiral of escalating aerial attacks that are killing civilians and smashing infrastructure.

In fighting Monday, three teenagers were killed and six children were wounded in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar, Russia's children's rights ombudswoman Maria Lvova-Belova said, as Ukraine attacked several warehouses of Ozon for the third straight day, according to officials and the company.

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Ozon is one of Russia's major e-commerce retailers. The company said a large fire raged at an Ozon logistics facility in the suburbs of Krasnodar following the overnight attack.

A drone also hit the grounds of an Ozon logistics centre in the southern Russian region of Adygeya, regional governor Murat Kumpilov said, though the company said its Adygeya warehouse wasn't damaged.

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In all, four Ozon premises appeared to have been targeted.

Ukraine's General Staff said its forces struck the Russian state-owned Kamenetsky Combine defence company in the Rostov region overnight, starting a fire. The plant produces fuel for rockets and missiles, it said.

Russia's Defence Ministry said its air defences overnight intercepted and destroyed 351 Ukrainian drones over eight Russian regions, as well as occupied Crimea and the waters of the Azov and the Black Seas.

The ministry also said that its forces overnight continued to strike Ukrainian ports and vessels delivering cargo for the armed forces.

Ukraine's long-range drones have repeatedly hit facilities in Russia's vital oil industry, causing fuel shortages and have also engaged in a campaign against Russia's largest online retailer Wildberries.